The Element Hunters
by Dearing
Summary: They didn't know how they got here, and they didn't care. All they wanted was one target: Fire Lord Ozai. Avatar/Witch Hunter Robin crossover. Really got to read it to understand it.


Hm...this is actually a bit different from my usual stuff...proably as closs to crack as I'll ever get.

Basically, I've been in a bit of a writer's funk recently. That is, I have the ideas, but not the will to write them. This was really just something to try and get those fingers typing again.  
It actually spawns from a idea I had before I started writing AVATAR: Last of the Black Core, about Avatar story based on the anime: Witch Hunter Robin. I never got very far with it, but the idea was a team of hunters who tracked down powerful Benders (named Advanced Elementals) who were becoming potential threats to the peace. Katara was going to be the protagonist, and the fic was going to be called Element Hunter Katara, but as I said, I never really go that far. I have a draft of a prologue though, if anyone wants to take the story up.

So here you go, the team from Witch Hunter Robin (Go to wikipedia for more info, I've bored you long enough!) go after Fire Lord Ozai during the Day of Black Sun.

For what it's worth, I hope you like this story. It's a bit weird, but as I said before, I was just trying to break out of the funk I've found myself in. Reviews always helpful.

Thanks,

Dearing

* * *

**THE ELEMENT HUNTERS**

The cars pulled up near the palace gates as the sky began to darken, two men and three women stepping out into the sunlight as it was slowly blotted out by the sun.

Had there been the usual crowds of people that roamed the streets of the Fire Nation Capital, they would have no doubt been more cautious about using forgotten millennia old technology, but there was no cause for alarm today, for the streets were deserted, with not even the usual patrols of fire wielding guards standing watch over the immense building to enquire who they were and if they had business with the Fire Lord.

They counted their blessings and moved through the gates without incident, black trench coats blowing out behind them as they hurried silently across the gardens into the crimson tower beyond.

None of them understood how they'd found themselves here, in this age, but then, none of them cared. They had found their purpose in the previous months, even though the badges on their shoulders still held mementos of their past lives:

STN-J.

It had been clear soon after they had arrived what their purpose should be. They had crossed the globe doing what they did best, discovering new ways to develop the greenish liquid that protected them from their targets and took them down, and making sure their mobile base was never discovered, the only link they had to the technologies of the past.

Finding a side entrance, the leader carefully pulled his pistol from the holster kept under his arm, his dark hair falling into his eyes as he peered into the darkened corridors beyond.

As he disappeared into the gloom, his colleagues followed his lead, each pulling out their weapons before following him into the massive halls.

Save for one, a young girl with hair the colour of straw with half moon glasses perched upon her nose, who kept her hands firmly in the pockets of her trench-coat, her floor length dress giving her the impression gliding across the marble floors rather then running as she followed her partner.

They continued to run, a voice from their mobile base continuing to give details of the battle that currently raged near the base of the volcano.

The perfect distraction.

A left, then a right, then another left. The team twisted through corridors and passageways, their crucifixes bouncing against their chests, never missing a turning or doorway, a mission plan memorised by the leader keeping them on course until they found it; the emergency exit to the bunker.

It didn't take much to blast the metal hatch open, an easy barrier lifted, allowing the team to continue down into the heart of the volcano, where their prey sat waiting for his time of weakness to come to an end.

More corridors, this time of rock and steel, followed, their progress only hindered by an old man in robes of red who was quickly silenced by a backhand into a nearby wall.

When they reached the great chamber, the massive doors were quickly blown clear.

Inside however, was not their target.

Lounging in the chair was the one they knew as the daughter, the one the files had called Azula.

As she sat up uncertainty, it was clear she had been expecting someone else.

"Who are you?" her tone was arrogant, if not angry, "Where is the Avatar?"

"We are not here for you," the leader spoke calmly as they raised their pistols as one, "Where is the Fire Lord?"

"In my country it is usually considered courteous to answer a question asked before asking your own," Azula scowled, "Who are you?"

"She doesn't look like she's gonna talk Mr. Amon," the other male of the group, a brown haired young man, grinned slightly, "Michael says the eclipse has a minute to go, you want to wait, or should we shoot her now?"

"Why waste the ammunition?" the leader didn't smile, "If she has no information, we should keep going…"

"You _dare_ turn your back on me?" the woman's features creased into an angry glare, "Fine, have it you're way, I was going to save these for the Avatar…" with a raised hand, two men in robes of green and oversized hats, dropping from the rocky ceiling, "But I just can't _stand _rude guests. Get rid of them! Quickly, before the Avatar arrives!"

The men made their move, their arms and legs moving in graceful motions as the very ground around them shifted at their will.

Four pistols went off, a gas powered hiss from each the only sound as four glass bullets zigzagged across the room, a greenish liquid splattering across the surprised soldier's clothes and faces

They both stumbled forward, before collapsing unconscious to the stone floor, their earthy weapons scattering as their powers dampened.

Azula froze as her only defence collapsed before her eyes, her face contorting into a look of rage, her body forming her usual stance as lightning arced between her fingers…

Then her sleeve, with no movement from anyone else in the room, caught fire.

Understandably, she panicked, her eyes wide with fear at a form of bending she had never seen before. Her attention divided, her ultimate attack back-fired, the unfocused lightning blasting her back into the volcanic rock with a bang, her head hitting the stone wall with a sickening crack, leaving her to slump into semi-consciousness from the impact.

It took only one bullet from the leader's gun to subdue her.

Leaving two of the women, the ones called Miho and Yurika, to properly detain their sub targets, the remaining three of the team backtrack down the corridors and hallways as their friend on the outside relay's information from stolen blueprints about a secondary room, the eclipse above no in full swing.

By the time they reach their destination however, it is almost over.

Still running, but no behind schedule, the two men and one mysterious woman continued to run towards their final target, only to halt when they come into contact with another potential threat running the other way, swords drawn.

For a moment, there is silence, the two sides facing off, pistols against steel.

"We are not here for you?" the leader repeats his statement, "Where is the Fire Lord?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"He needs to be arrested,"

"Arrested?" the young man chuckled darkly, "You think he'll just come quietly? My father will rip you to shreds, especially now that the eclipse has ended,"

"He must be the Prince," the girl with hair like straw spoke up, her voice, "The one they call Zuko. Why are you running?"

"I'm running away from him," the scarred man looked hesitantly back down the rocky corridor, clearly uneasy about staying in one place for too long, "I need to free my Uncle and find the Avatar. I have to teach him to firebend,"

"That won't be necessary," Zuko glanced back at the leader in surprise, "Tell us where he is. We will end this war now,"

"You want to end up dead? Fine," the prince shrugged before jerking a thumb back down the route he had come, "His chamber's down there. You can't miss it,"

"Thank you," the girl bowed to the bemused man as her comrades soundlessly walked past him, "Please head for the surface and order your troops to stand down. This will all be over soon,"

As she followed her companions down the corridor, Zuko found it hard not to believe her.

* * *

In the a decorated room of fire and marble, the Fire Lord lay in wait, his breathing ragged, the after effects of his own son's betrayal.

It mattered not however, even if his son were to lead a rebellion himself, Ozai knew he would emerge victorious.

That was until he was surrounded by a ring of fire. A ring that refused to bow to his command.

"What…what is this?" he squinted through the light as three people dressed in black emerged through the open doorway, "Who are you? Answer me!"

The strangers didn't reply, the two males only lifting strange metallic objects to face him, their intent clearly offensive.

"You dare threaten me!? You will not live to see your own shame!!!"

An arc of burning red momentarily pierced the ring of unbendable fire, the Fire Lord's triumphant grin shattered as the flames seemed to warp around the men before winking out of existence, their crucifixes glowing an eerie green around their necks

"You're powers…" the leader smiled almost sympathetically, "…are useless against us,"

For the first time in his life, fear clutched at the Fire Lord's heart.

"Could it be…Are you what they call…the Element Hunters?"

The leader merely smiled.

"Probably,"

Eight bullets of glass impacted against Ozai's chest as the ring of fire dispersed, the vision of the young woman with hair the colour of straw imprinting itself on the Fire Lord's mind as he collapsed unconscious, his powers drained.

When Aang and his friends arrived, the Fire Lord, his daughter and their captors were long gone, with only a pair of unconscious Dai-Li agents to greet them. Zuko ordered his father's soldiers to stand down, and the war came to an abrupt, if not unusual end.

No one saw Ozai or Azula again, but the Element Hunters still roamed the lands, seeking out any and all who threatened to break the fragile peace once again.

And when they decided to recruit new members to their cause, soon…everyone knew of them, and thanked whichever spirit had brought them to this age in their time of need.

**END**


End file.
